Band has affected my life in so many positive ways. I’ve made friends, learned how to dedicate myself to something I’m passionate about, and have gotten better at my instrument. The same things can be said for other sports. For example, football players have to dedicate themselves to their team and to the sport. They get closer to their teammates and have to constantly practice their specific positions. Sometimes the only difference between these two things is the recognition of the difficulty and dedication. Marching band is an art and an athletically challenging sport as well. We march at tempos of 180 beats per minute while playing incredibly difficult music.

Sometimes it’s hard for people to understand how much time and effort band students put into their work. We start rigorous practice in late July and go until the end of our marching season. Once school starts, most sections practice from after school until as late as 7:30 p.m. We attend a band camp for one week in August and have a demanding 3-a-day schedule. We find all this worth it when we make it all the way to state, as we did this past year.

A pet peeve of mine is that often during halftime of a football game, rather than watching the band perform and learn what we are all about, sometimes people tend to head down to the concessions because the band is “boring.” It only seems fair that we be appreciated too since we do come to every game and support the team, and often with an early morning competition the next day.

So before you go and judge the band on what we do wrong, learn about what we do right and what we’re really all about. After all, we do perform at every football game. You can’t miss us.